All posts by David Todd

Documenting America, History, Writing

On to the Next Book

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My most recently completed novel, Adam Of Jerusalem, is in the hands of two beta readers. Sunday I will put a print copy in the hands of a third. I received a little feedback from one and a little more feedback from the other. That process is working.

I contacted a cover designer while I was in Texas. She responded that maybe she can help me, though she is busy. I haven’t contacted her again; that’s on the schedule for today, though today looks to be very busy.

So, it’s on to the next book, which is the next in my non-fiction series. Documenting America: Making The Constitution Edition is next. In theory it’s the third book in the series, although since I did a homeschool edition of the first it is in reality the fourth. I can’t remember how much I’ve written about it before, so I think I’ll just plunge in and tell about it and where I am.

I then took the first book and expanded it into a homeschool edition.

The book covers the period from 1783 to 1789. The Revolutionary War is over. During the war, the Articles of Confederation worked as a form of government. Now in peace time, however, it turns out they don’t work. The central government was a little too weak, and the states a little too independent, for government to function. Wise men saw there was a real chance of the confederation breaking apart into thirteen nations, or perhaps into a few regional nations.

In 1787 a convention was held to revise the Articles of Confederation. The delegates saw that was hopeless, and went in a different direction. They devised a whole new system of central government and wrote a document that became the Constitution.

The Civil War edition was published in mid-2017.

From fall of 1787 to late 1788 the states considered this new government. One by one they ratified it. Only nine affirmative votes were needed. They got eleven, with North Carolina and Rhode Island being the only holdouts. Electors met in January-February 1789 and elected Washington to be president. He took the oath of office on April 30, 1789, and the new government was underway.

Here’s the status of the book: I’ve done most of my background reading and have identified the documents I want to use and how to organize them into chapters. I have 30 chapters identified, though some of them are tentative. I have four chapters where I have the source documents identified (The Federalist Papers) but I haven’t read the documents. I plan on starting on that tonight.

Yesterday I took a big step. I created my folder on OneDrive, created the book file, and began to seek out digital copies of my source documents. I found most from the first half of the book—all but one. I copied the full documents and added them to my book file. The fourteen source documents are there, 55 pages and 29496 words. Today (if I have time; if not tomorrow or Sunday) I’ll work on the next fifteen chapters and do the same, all except the four chapters I still have some reading to do on. I hope to have all this done by about Wednesday of next week, including the four lagging chapters.

Then comes the editing/excerpting of the source documents. I have that partly done for about eighteen chapters in my copy of the Annals Of America, where I’ve marked paragraphs to use. That’s far from complete, and some of it was done over a year ago and is thus vague in my memory, but it’s at least started.

I won’t excerpt the documents all at once. I’ll start with Chapter 1, which is a document by Alexander Hamilton about the unfair treatment of loyalists It is 5,221 words. I’ll except this down to around 1,000 (plus of minus 250, at least that’s my target; some documents demand more words be kept), then write my part of the chapter. That process is likely to take two to four days per chapter.

That may be a bit optimistic. Documents from this era are in archaic English, and reading/editing can be a chore. In the book they are all in different formats and will have to be reworked. Four days per chapter to re-read, except, write historical commentary, and tie to a current issue may take longer on average. I don’t really know for sure.

So that’s the plan. Now in retirement, possibly it will all go faster. On days when the stock market is open, and I’m making or watching trades, I plan on doing this work simultaneously. Maybe it will go faster than I think. I’m not ready to look ahead and project a publishing date. Perhaps in two weeks I’ll be ready to take a stab at that.

Oh, one thing I haven’t done yet is create my book journal. That’s another task I hope to get done today.

Documenting America, family, Writing

Back in the Saddle

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Last night, around 8:30 p.m., Lynda and I pulled into our driveway, 1318 miles and 11 days after having pulled out. We drove to Big Spring Texas where we spent time with our daughter Sara and her family. We watched the kiddos Friday-Sunday the first weekend and Friday-Saturday the second weekend.

The three older ones are in school, so, with just the 2 yr 4 mo old there in the daytime, and with our daughter there on weekdays, it was sort of vacation for us. Yes, we helped out during those days and times, but I found time to work on stock trading and make a number of trades.

I also found time to make two blog posts, without revealing my whereabouts, and to do significant research on Documenting America: Making the Constitution Edition. I read a lot, and extended my outline to the point where I had 23 of 30 chapters identified. This morning I completed my outline. I still have reading to do, but at least I know my destination now.

I accomplished a number of other, perhaps more important things while in Texas. I took my oldest grandson to his Cross-over Ceremony, where he graduated from Webelo to Boy Scout. That was excellent to see. I also helped him build an A.T.A.T. out of cardboard around his top bunk. We didn’t quite finish, but we got close. And, we had a number of talks—nothing terribly profound or earth-shattering, but simple conversations.

With my next-oldest grandson, we had several times of Bible reading together. He’s seven, and decided he wanted to read the Bible through. He’s currently on Deuteronomy. We read about ten chapters in it, maybe a few more. I also teased him with his portions at meals, something he came to expect and I think enjoy.

With the two youngest, there was playing with blocks and roughhousing and playing runaway blanket.

I didn’t have much time to help with projects around the house, such as hanging pictures or getting a few things put where they should go. I’ll have another trip to do that. I fixed several meals for everyone, and was the founder of a couple of times eating out.

All in all, I declare this to have been a successful trip. Now I’m ready to tackle at-home tasks, the list of which is not being shortened in retirement.

America, Documenting America, research, Writing

The Cheapest Form of Government

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And, perhaps, a fourth to this one? Yes: Making The Constitution Edition, hopefully in 2019.

As I continue my research for the next volume in my Documenting America series, tentatively titled Making The Constitution Edition, I’m finding tons of material, much more than I will ever be able to read, let alone use. I found one such piece this week, from the 1788 pen of Oliver Ellsworth

Those who wish to enjoy the blessings of society must be willing to suffer some restraint on personal liberty, and devote some part of their property to the public that the remainder may be secured and protected. The cheapest form of government is not always best, for parsimony, though it spends little, generally gains nothing. Neither is that the best government which imposes the least restraint on its subjects; for the benefit of having others restrained may be greater than the disadvantage of being restrained ourselves. That is the best form of government which returns the greatest number of advantages in proportion to the disadvantages with which it is attended.

Constitutional convention delegate, US senator, chief justice of the Supreme Court

I must confess to knowing next to nothing about Oliver Ellsworth, except that which I can glean from reading this piece and a brief introductory paragraph in the book I’m reading from. He was from Connecticut, and said to be a constant champion of the Constitution then being debated in the thirteen states. After reading this piece, I assure you I’ll do some study on him.

In March 1788, six states had ratified the Constitution; others were debating. Nine states were needed for it to become the new government of the land. New Hampshire was one of the states still debating, Ellsworth wrote an open letter to the citizens of NH, using an economic argument in favor of the Constitution: it would be advantageous economically for New Hampshire.

Laying that argument aside, I find his opening paragraph (quoted above) to be inspiring, and dead on, though something I don’t know that I’ve thought of. To have a government that protects your rights and  property, you have to give up some of your rights and property that the remainder of each would be defended. I’ve found the same argument in John Locke’s Treatise On Government, which I’m also reading as background understanding of the pre-constitutional era. Man in a state of nature is freer than man in society.

And, perhaps, a fourth to this one? Yes: Making The Constitution Edition, hopefully in 2019.Locke I find difficult to understand. Ellsworth makes sense. Give up some rights enjoy the blessings of society. Devote some of your property to this endeavor. Thank you, Mr. Ellsworth, for saying this clearly. Clearly, you are no Libertarian.

But he goes on. For the government to do this, it needs that money (i.e. some of your property/income/wealth) to function. You can do this on the cheap or on the extravagant. Don’t do it on the cheap, he says. Cheap expenditures gain little. So cheap government will result in little benefit. As I say, makes sense.

What do we do today with Ellsworth’s words? The national debate rages on how much government we should have, how much individual liberty we should cede, and what this should cost us. Republicans lean one way, Democrats another. Both seem at times to be caricatures of their general position. Republicans will have us believe you restrict excessive benefits by reducing the money you collect. Less money results in less spending results in less benefits.

Democrats go the other way, believing more and more restrictions on individual liberty are needed to provide benefits. The restrictions are most often in the form of collecting more revenue (i.e. taxes).

Except neither party wants to collect enough taxes to pay for the benefits, so each keeps borrowing, passing the bill for today’s benefits on to their children and grandchildren.

I think Ellsworth would say to them Enough! You Republicans, stop being so parsimonious that you squeak. You Democrats, stop being so profligate that you steal. Everybody sit down, take a good hard look at each and every government program/benefit. Decide if it’s really needed. If so, how much money is needed to pay for it? Where will you get that money without resorting to stealing it from your grandchildren?

Then do that to the next and the next. At some point you find you can’t fund everything the U.S. government is now doing without taking so much money that it results in stealing someone’s property. At that point, go back and start cutting things until you come to a point of balance.

Kind of what a typical family does at the grocery store. You pick up the premium bacon, realize you can’t buy it and milk, so put it back and take the store brand, or maybe even do without bacon this week.

I think we have a lot to learn from Oliver Ellsworth. Once I get this book put to bed, I’ll do a lot more study of him. Meanwhile, maybe this post will convince a few people (i.e. politicians) to be more fiscally responsible.

I can dream big, can’t I?

Adam Of Jerusalem, family, Writing

No Post on Friday, Late for Monday

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Yes, here it is 9:00 p.m. on Monday and I’m just getting to my blog post. That’s after not having done one on my regular Friday. No excuses, of course, but I do have two good reasons.

First is this cold. I think I mentioned it before. I first noticed symptoms on Tuesday, January 22. The cold was in full blast by Thursday the 24th, and Saturday-Sunday seemed to be the worst—I thought. But the whole next week was about as bad as the weekend. I had good days here and there but, as of last Saturday, Feb 2, I was almost as bad. I don’t know why this is hanging on so. I’ve been taking over-the-counter meds, which gives some relief. Today I felt a little better. I’m still way below full speed, but I anticipate the healing to soon come.

The other reason, perhaps more valid, is we babysat the four grandchildren this past weekend. While their parents were away at ministers and spouses retreat, we tried to do right by the kids (ages 10 to 2) while keeping our heads and our sanity. I actually think it went well. My cold kept me from doing a Saturday morning activity with the two older boys, though they didn’t seem mind. We bought food for two suppers, and managed for other meals. We were all glad to see the parents return Sunday afternoon. They seemed pleased to see the kids dressed, having had baths on Saturday and been to church on Sunday. They told of another couple who said they got their kids back from grandparents in the same clothes they were in all weekends, no baths, questionable meals. So, we feel like we maybe did okay.

Meanwhile, what’s going on in my retirement world? I completed the third round of edits of Adam Of Jerusalem. It is now with a beta reader, and will go to a second beta reader next time I see her at church. One chapter went to the new critique group, and I’ve had feedback from three people. I’ll send a second chapter in about a week, then I expect I’ll be at the publishing stage.

In the meantime, I have resumed research in the next volume of the Documenting America series. This is the Making The Constitution Edition. I plan to have 30 chapters, as I did in the first volume, each chapter following the pattern of introductory paragraph, 700 to 1200 word quote, discussion of the document in its history, and tying it to an issue of the day. Based on past and recent research, I have 24 chapters identified. The remaining six shouldn’t be two difficult. I think I could find them in a week of research.

That means I’m a month or so away from starting the writing on this volume. That seems good to me. I’m anxious to get back to some additional writing.

Adam Of Jerusalem, Health, Writing

Sickness Continues but may be Breaking

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Somewhere around last Thursday I came down with a cold. Actually, the symptoms showed up a day or two earlier. They progressed very typically for the colds I’ve had in the past. Saturday and Sunday were pretty bad, as I could accomplish nothing. This morning I feel a little better. It was so bad yesterday I didn’t feel like drinking coffee. Now that’s bad.

It’s been about two years since I’ve had a severe cold, maybe longer. Given that I’m now retired and don’t get out much, I wonder where I got it from. I went to Wal-Mart on the Thursday before my symptoms started, which seems too far. I went to a Martin Luther King memorial service on Monday, and the symptoms started on Tuesday. That seems the more likely place.

During this time I’ve suspended my exercising. Walking would about do me in.  The last two days I haven’t felt like eating. So, even though I haven’t exercised, my weight is down several pounds. I’ll have to figure out how to keep it off when I recover.

Once thing I did manage to do was finish reading Adam Of Jerusalem to Lynda, making editing marks as I went along. I also found the strength to type the edits, though I didn’t bother to reprint. I think I’m now ready to give it to my beta readers. One wants it as a PDF, which I can do today and send it. The other wants it in hard copy, but I may not see her for a couple of weeks. I’ll have to think about that.

So, here I am, in The Dungeon for the first time in several days, somewhat on the mend. At least the constant coughing is much reduced, though sinus drainage is as much as ever. I was able to look at the stock market this morning and make a couple of trades. I think I’ll be up to reading a little after a while. And, while I’m not very hungry, I’ll go upstairs now and fix some breakfast. That’s a sign of recovery.

Adam Of Jerusalem, Health, reading, Writing

Editing Consumes Me

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This will be a short post today. Day before yesterday I began to get the symptoms of a cold, yesterday they came on strong, and today they linger. I may be a little better. Maybe.

So, yesterday and today I took life easy. I typed edits in Adam Of Jerusalem. I followed the stock market and made a few trades. In the evening I read four more chapters in AOJ to Lynda. I didn’t do any of my exercises yesterday, and don’t plan on doing any today. Yesterday I also went to the sun room to read, though I think I slept more than read. I hope to do the same today.

It’s been nearly two years since I had a cold. As I’m essentially a home body nowadays, I’m not sure where I got it. Perhaps it was going Monday to the Martin Luther King memorial service at our church. I didn’t speak up close with anyone; perhaps it was in the air.

I’m hoping that by tomorrow, Saturday, I’ll be back to 80%, and to full strength and health on Sunday.

Adam Of Jerusalem, Health, holidays, miscellaneous, Writing

Still No New Normal

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Somewhere in this house, most likely in one of two places, I have a list started of blog posts I want to do. The list is on paper, one of the pads I want to use up rather than just discard. Do you think this morning, my regular day for blogging, I can find it? Of course not.

Instead of whatever I was thinking of for today, I’ll just post a stream-of-thought thing. What popped into my head was: I still haven’t found my new normal in retirement.

I have many things I should be doing. De-cluttering is a key one. Lynda has started on some de-cluttering, in a small way only but it’s a start. I’ve been working on it for a while, but haven’t done anything major for a while.

My main decluttering has been a little printing I did. How is that decluttering, you ask? It was four pages for the members of my new critique group. I printed them on the backs of old printed pages. I have two stacks of these, which are somewhat unobtrusive piles in two places, one quite large the other small. But, since I brought the pages back home with me, you might ask how is that decluttering? Once I incorporate their comments into my chapter, I’ll discard them into recycling. This is a departure from the past, where I kept all such critique sheets. No more.

Also yesterday I printed my completed novel, Adam Of Jerusalem, for my last editing pass through it. All 217 sheets are on reused paper. So, once I finish with this, it will be taken to recycling as well. The pile I pulled all these sheets from may in fact look a little smaller.

Today is a holiday, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day. But now that I’m retired, it’s the same as other week days except the stock market is closed. I’m free to do whatever I want. I don’t even have to prepare any food, as we have left-overs from the prior cooking.

So what am I going to do? I should try to read 100 pages in the novel, editing as I go. I will try to find that list of blog post, and put it where I can find it when I need it. I’ll hit the elliptical, and try to do 1.2 miles on it in 0.2 mile increments. I’ll walk outside, hopefully my 2.4 mile route. It would be nice to read something for leisure, maybe something out of the large magazine pile (which will be multi-tasking since it will also count as decluttering). We may also head into town for a noon service celebrating MLK’s life. We’ll see.

Tomorrow will be another day into retirement. Perhaps, with the stock market open and having trades to make and watch, it will feel a little closer to a new normal.

The Gutter Chronicles, Writing

4th Quarter Book Sales—Plus Annual

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I have been waiting on posting my 4th quarter sales results until one sale at Apple via Smashwords to fully post. That happened yesterday, so here I am. I’ll post the sales table and comment on it below.

6 sales in the 4th quarter, 48 for the entire year, down from 2018.

 

Only six sales in the 4th quarter, and only 48 for the whole year. That’s understandable. I did almost no promotion in 2018 and had only one new publication, The Gutter Chronicles, Volume 2. With no promotion activity and almost no new releases, it’s understandable that sales were low.

Of those 48 sales, 27 were print books I sold personally. The rest were mostly at Amazon, both print and e-books. Two were from pass-through vendors via Smashwords.

Maybe that’s enough commentary for 2018. Looking ahead to 2019, hopefully more new publications, a couple of author events, and some other promotion will make a different.

Adam Of Jerusalem, Doctor Luke's Assistant, Writing

My Broken Novel

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So, I think it was last Thursday that I started the second round of edits on my novel Adam Of Jerusalem. I completed the first round in mid-December, but had to put it aside as family and Christmas was upon me. I printed it again and put it in the notebook. There were two places where I wanted to work in some backstory. I actually did that around Jan 2-3, but didn’t re-print.

“Adam Of Jerusalem” is a prequel to “Doctor Luke’s Assistant”, and is the first in my church history novel series.

When I read it for the first round of edits, I wasn’t happy with it. Too many places with clunky phrasing. Too many places where my meaning wasn’t clear. And something about the plot that wasn’t quite right. I had begun reading it aloud to my wife, but somewhere, maybe about 95 pages in, I quit that due to my unhappiness with it and went to another part of the house to read it to myself.

Saturday was a rain day, so I didn’t walk. I took two or three hours out in our sun room, in the nice cool temperature, to read around seventy pages. I had a lot of editing marks, but in general I was much more pleased with it than I was a month ago.

Sunday, after church and lunch, and with the weather not particularly conducive to walking, I again went to the sun room and began reading/editing. I got up to page 105 (of a 210 page manuscript, and felt like I was re-reading something I had read the day before. I flipped back fifty pages and, sure enough, I had covered the same Bible story earlier in the book, the one from Acts Chapter 5, where the apostles are imprisoned but miraculously released over-night.

How had I possibly done that? It’s a good story, sure, but to use it in two different places as if it were two different events? Looking back, I figure I must have had a time-gap in my writing. I had put the story in, written some more stuff, taken time away from the book (for whatever reason), then gotten back to it and, forgetting the story was already in there, written it again.

The treatment of the two stories is similar. My protagonist, Adam, is involved in the arrest of the apostles. The first time he was a simple bystander, then sent to check on the condition of the apostles after they were flogged. The second time he was sent by the high priest to facilitate the arrest, to try to convince the apostles not to make a scene when they were arrested.

I stopped my editing and tried to figure out what to do. One of the stories had to go. Which place did it fit in naturally with the rest of the narrative, and which was better written? I’ve found in the past that, normally when you write something twice (such as happened to me three decades ago when I began writing by had a professional paper, lost it, started again, then found the original pages), the first time is better. Would that be the case here? And what to do with the “space vacated” by deleting one of the two?

As I looked at the book, I decided either place would work. To make it consistent with the order in the book if Acts, I would have to either use the first instance or make a slight change in another place to make the chronology work. As to which of the two versions of the repeated story are better, I’ll have to read them both carefully and make that decision.

As to the words lost, I hate to make the book shorter. It’s only a little over 70,000 words, which is shorter than I wanted. I stopped there because the it seemed the story was complete. Why pad it with extra words? But now, to lose words? That’s not what I prefer.

So, last night was a brainstorming night. It didn’t take long for an idea to come to me. Not all my scenes come out of Acts, naturally. I could add an extra-biblical scene where the apostles are confronted in the temple by Jewish leaders, much the same way they confronted Jesus. It gives me some chance to work in some more teaching of Jesus as the apostles debate the Pharisees, Sadducees, chief priests, and teachers of the law.

I went to the place in the manuscript where the first story was, and began typing the new scene. I was only a couple of hundred words into it when I quit for the night. But I finished pleased. Pleased that I had a plan that seems good to me; pleased that I made a start on implementing that plan; and pleased that I’m well into editing.

Oh, and, I found two potential beta readers for my novel, both in my target audience. I won’t give it to them until I have this round of edits done, hopefully in about two weeks.

Adam Of Jerusalem, Writing

Let the Editing Continue

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I didn’t mention in my last post that I was planning to go to a writing event on Wednesday. It was the regular monthly meeting of Village Writers and Poets, a group centered in my city that meets more or less monthly. As this meeting is from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., I wasn’t able to go while I was working. I knew one of the writers making a presentation, which is why I wanted to go to this particular meeting.

Several different writing events occur in the ARC: Artists’ Retreat Center, in Bella Vista. That’s where I was on Wednesday Jan 9, 2019.
(can’t find copyright holder of this photo, so hope it’s alright to share.)

They occasionally have Sunday afternoon meetings. That was the one I attended back in February 2018. The leader asked me if I was interested in doing an author presentation, and we’re now trying to figure out a date.

At the read-around time, since I was new to most of them, they asked me to tell them something of myself and my writing. I tried to explain my Genre Focus Disorder to them, told of myself and my writing. Since I hadn’t brought anything to share, I recited “The Beginning of a Special Day”, the first poem in Daddy-Daughter Day. One thing I told them was that I had a new finished novel and was about to begin the second round of edits on it.

I came home after the meeting and two other errands, went for a 2-mile walk, and fixed supper. That evening, while watching television, I remembered what I had said: “Tonight I’ll start the second round of edits on my most recent novel.” So I went down to The Dungeon, took the notebook with the manuscript, and came back upstairs to work on. I read the first chapter, made some notations. Soon it was bedtime.

The first slice was good. Better have another to be sure.

Today is a rainy day in Bella Vista, as predicted. I can’t go for my walk. I’ve been on the elliptical three times, though need to do it three more times to get my steps in for today. I decided to make banana bread, the firs time ever. And, I went out to the sun room with a mug of coffee and the manuscript, and began some serious edits. I’m on Chapter 5 now. I just identified the place where I’ll work in a little more backstory for the main character.

This feels good. I wasn’t pleased with the book when I read it through the first time, making simple edits. Some places seemed unclear, not explained well enough. I’m making a few clarifying edits. Nothing major; mainly adding speaker tags, sometimes an extra clause or two to make things clearer.

At the rate I’m going, I could be done in a week. Then a few days of typing, then one more read-through with, hopefully, minor edits. Then it’s ready for publishing. Way behind the schedule I’d hoped for, but still a viable addition to my collection.

What’s next to start, in my multi-tasking world? I want to write letters to my three oldest grandchildren. I think I’ll start that tonight. And, I need to make a list of blog posts I want to make, possibly scheduling them. If I get that done by Sunday, I’ll be happy.